Provenance Fine Wines has come to expect somewhat controversial ratings from the fiercely independent critic but Parker deemed 2008 as ‘a notch below 2005, but it is better than any other vintage of the last decade except 2000.’ As a result, certain wines have seen huge increases in price, putting the entire en primeur campaign in jeopardy.

After continuous bad weather and set-backs in the vineyards had lead to widespread doubt over the quality of the 2008 vintage, many of the wines had exceeded critical expectation. Furthermore, many chateaux dropped their prices in a visible move to encourage drinkers back into the market. The whole campaign relied upon this sensible pricing strategy and it’s unfortunate that Parker released his sensational review. Parker raved about the 2003 vintage while most critics were left cold; he was initially underwhelmed by the now infamous 2005 vintage, and his latest critical offering seems to fly in the face of what can loosely be called the overall consensus of the 2008 vintage.

Here is a summary Parker’s notes:

Source: www.erobertparker.com

Several chateaux are yet to release their prices so let’s hope they price to the market rather than to the review of one critic. As Simon Staples, Berry Bros’ sales and marketing director remarks, we ‘can only hope the properties yet to release their wines prices will continue in the same, sane way their peers had done.’

However, it is exciting nonetheless to be see opinions begin to unfold…

Liv-ex (The London International Vintners Exchange) have published the results of their 2008 Bordeaux En Primeur Survey, which prove extremely interesting – especially when considered against the views of those major critics whose judgements are already known.

Robert Parker of course has (at the time of writing) not yet given his own verdict, but James Suckling of Wine Spectator, Jancis Robinson MW, the magazine Decanter and the Parker affiliate Neal Martin have, and it would appear that – a few exceptions aside – consensus is not a word that can easily be used.

First things first, the results of the survey taken amongst the Liv-ex membership look like this:

1. Lafite
2. Latour
3. Ausone
=4. Cheval Blanc
=4. Mouton Rothschild
6. Haut Brion
7. Lafleur
8. Le Pin
9. Leoville Las Cases
=10. Palmer
=10. Petrus

But the ratings of the other major critics differ widely. The top wines of each of the others are as follows (where more than one is noted they are scored equally highly):

Decanter did rate Ausone in their second placing and Neal Martin in his third, so according to the Liv-ex “survey of surveys” it would appear that Ausone is indeed by a loose (and certainly not unanimous) consensus the wine of the vintage.

And although Latour would appear the second most highly regarded wine, the fact that James Suckling rated it only joint ninth and Neal Martin did not feature it at all in his top ten means that it only comes in – as the highest first growth – at fourth overall.

So everyone here at Provenance Fine Wines can’t wait for Parker to release his scores, if only to see how he may somehow mettre le loup dans la bergerie…